Pop Artist Kii Arens, who designs posters for the likes of Radiohead and Lady Gaga, opened the doors to his live-work studio that harbors not only his love of posters, but his love of music as well. Photo by Bradford Shellhammer.

Seeking more space and a connection with the city, an artist and a designer turn an old Toronto storefront in Dundas West into a home and studio. The table is by Made, the sneaker-inspired Shoe Toss pendants are by Jeremy Hatch of Ricochet Studio, and the laser-cut photo on the wall is by the couple’s collective art and design practice, Public Studio. Photo by Naomi Finlay.

In the late 1970s, Finnish design legend Yrjö Kukkapuro, experimented with a sofa that sports a stylized landscape painted on its sides, a prelude to the postmodernism of the 1980s. The Kukkapuros’ respective work spaces are side by side and occupy roughly one-third of their home’s 2,150 square feet. Photo by Johannes Romppanen.

Architect Tom Kundig’s assignment was simple enough: Build a tiny, Thoreau-like getaway for an Atlanta-based writer who owned ten acres on San Juan Island in Puget Sound. “The idea was not to clutter anybody’s thinking, especially a writer’s,” he said. So he designed a 500-square-foot retreat that’s both womblike and open to its surroundings thanks to exterior shutters. Photo by Tim Bies.